[Charles_Y]

I have the ver 1/6 firmware update installed. A side question: I'm rather new to BD and bought the BD30 a couple of months ago. I have a few discs that list "PCM 5.1 uncompressed" and I'm starting to see more of this now. However, I've noted that to access that I actually have to stop the player or do this prior to loading such a disc and then go into Setup. Do other BluRay players require this procedure?

My primary questions are specifically, what do I change here? I went into "Digital Audio Output" and see (4) codecs listed: DD, DD+/TrueHD, DTS and DTS-HD. However, each has a choice "Bitstream" and "PCM." As the cover doesn't specify anything than "PCM uncompressed," which of these do I change to PCM - ALL of them, just Dolby Digital, etc.? I also assume that BD Video Secondary Audio is left at OFF. Is this enabled only when listening to video/audio commentaries? Working a DVD player was child's play next to this equipment.

This is rather confusing. It's bad enough we have to stop the disc and go into the player's menu to access this but when getting there the resolution is not clear. The manual only muddies the issue for me.

Finally, I see another choice in the upper menu with Digital Audio Output and that is PCM Down Conversion. I presume this is left at OFF for those with full 5.1 (or better) audio systems, which I do have.

FYI: I have this hooked to an Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver via HDMI.

Someone please clarify this mess for me!

[Brandon Conway]

Setting the 4 fields under "Digital Audio Output" to PCM tells the player to decode any audio signal and send the decoded signal to your receiver.

Setting the 4 fields to Bitstream sends the disc's original audio codecs to the receiver and allows the receiver to decode the signal.

For 5.1 PCM tracks it does not matter. The audio for this track is not encoded in any way by any codec, so neither the player or the receiver needs to do anything. Your Onkyo will display "Multichannel" if labeled properly.

I personally prefer setting the audio settings to "Bitstream" with the Pan BD30 connected to the Onkyo 805, as to allow for the Onkyo to decode and display that it is receiving the signal for DD, TrueHD, and other encoded audio tracks.

The Secondary Audio is for a couple possible disc features: Menu audio (those clicks, snaps, etc. you get when navigating the menu and making selections), and PiP audio. If you have it set to OFF, you will NOT get any audio for menu selections, nor will you get audio for any Profile 1.1 PiP features.

However, there is a hardware issue you should be aware of: The Pan BD30 can NOT pass TrueHD audio over Bitstream if the disc has secondary audio and that option is set to ON!

As for PCM Down Conversion - leave it off.

Let me know if you need any clarification.

[Charles_Y]

Thanks, this all makes sense and really reminds me of stuff I think I knew but had forgot. When I first configured the player, I left all of these codecs listed at Bitstream and secondary audio at OFF. Appears I had it right.

As I understand it, the BD30 does not decode the higher codecs (TrueHD, etc. I'm not sure which ones off hand) but will at least pass them to my receiver which DOES decode them, so I'm safe there.

I heard of the secondary audio issue being at ON and futzing with passing some of the codecs. So, I have left that at OFF. If I ever wish to check out an alternate audio track/PIP I guess I will lose HD sound but as I will be listening more to the conversation/monologue, that's no problem!

I also read of a lower Subwoofer/LFE level issue as well but had heard that the most recent firmware update (1.6) fixed that. Not sure.

[Brandon Conway]

The 1.6 update did fix the LFE issue.

[Charles_Y]

Excellent! Thanks Panasonic.